title: Molecular characteristics and evolutionary analysis of field Marek's disease virus prevalent in vaccinated chicken flocks in recent years in China.
abstract: Marek's disease is a highly contagious, oncogenic, and immunosuppressive avian viral disease. Surveillance of newly registered Marek's disease virus (MDV) isolates is meaningful for revealing the potential factors involved in increased virulence. Presently, we have focused on the molecular characteristics of all available MDVs from China, including 17 new Henan isolates. Based on Meq, gE, and gI genes, we found that most Chinese isolates contain conserved amino acid point mutations in Meq, such as E(77), A(115), A(139), R(176), and A(217), compared to USA virulent MDVs. However, the 59-aa or 60-aa insertions are only found in a few mild MDVs rather than virulent MDVs in China. Further phylogenetic analysis has demonstrated that a different genotype of MDV has been prevalent in China, and for virulent MDVs, their recent evolution has possibly been geographically restricted. Our study has provided more detailed information regarding the field MDVs circulating in China.
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, No. 5333 Xi'an Road, Changchun, 130062, Jilin, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zu-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Man
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xin-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Le-Le
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jing-Wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Jia-Qi
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Pu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Gai-Ping
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ju-Xiong
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D025922:Mardivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008380:Marek Disease / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D010802:Phylogeny; D017354:Point Mutation; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins